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Idle time on USB drives with WD Green
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Tom Del Rosso
Jul 12, 2012, 4:19:44 PM7/12/12
to
Any way to extend the timeout on the WD Elements USB boxes with EARS or EADS
drives?
WD website says no and support says "Huh?" but hoping there is some way.
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GMAN
Jul 12, 2012, 6:51:41 PM7/12/12
to
In article <jtnc12$ug9$1...@dont-email.me>, "Tom Del Rosso" <td...@verizon.net.invalid> wrote:
>
>Any way to extend the timeout on the WD Elements USB boxes with EARS or EADS
>drives?
>
>WD website says no and support says "Huh?" but hoping there is some way.
>
>
Download WDIDLE3 , it can be found here.
>
>Any way to extend the timeout on the WD Elements USB boxes with EARS or EADS
>drives?
>
>WD website says no and support says "Huh?" but hoping there is some way.
>
>
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
Ignore that it says its only for those specific drives. It works with all of
the green drives from WD.
Follow these instructions, if you want, you can use a bootable floppy instead
of the USB stick method.
http://forums.ncix.com/forums/topic.php?id=2278208
Tom Del Rosso
Jul 12, 2012, 7:00:56 PM7/12/12
to
GMAN wrote:
> Download WDIDLE3 , it can be found here.
>
> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
>
>
> Ignore that it says its only for those specific drives. It works with
> all of the green drives from WD.
>
> Follow these instructions, if you want, you can use a bootable floppy
> instead of the USB stick method.
>
> http://forums.ncix.com/forums/topic.php?id=2278208
inside of a USB enclosure.
* (Why does WD even have a DOS compiler anymore?)
a1pcfixer
Jul 13, 2012, 1:05:30 AM7/13/12
to
First head over here......
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
...and get....
wdidle3_1_05.zip
Extract it to get this......
wdidle3.exe
Description
This firmware modifies the behavior of the drive to wait longer before
positioning the heads in their park position and turning off
unnecessary electronics. This utility is designed to upgrade the
firmware of the following hard drives: WD1000FYPS-01ZKB0, WD7500AYPS-
01ZKB0, WD7501AYPS-01ZKB0.
CAUTION: Do not attempt to run this software on any hard drives other
than what is listed above. Please make sure that the computer system is
not turned off during the firmware upgrade. Doing so may damage the
hard drive beyond repair and your data may be lost.
- - - - - - - - - -
Info I got was off a user review from newegg.com on a 3TB WD Green
drive (internal), and it reads;
"Cons: The only problem is that you have to change the idle timer using
the wdidle3.exe program. Otherwise the heads will park every 8 seconds
if there's no use. It unnecessarily increases the Load Cycle Count.
Google wdidle3 and you'll figure it out.
Something that I noticed when changing the timer, if you completely
disable it, bad things happen. At least for me, my drive started acting
like the timer was set to .1 seconds or something. The Load Cycle Count
was shooting up every few seconds. So I went back in and set it to 300
seconds (the max). That solved the problem."
I just today got such a drive and need to do this myself soon.
Hope this is what you're looking for, and that it helps you.
Jim L.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
...and get....
wdidle3_1_05.zip
Extract it to get this......
wdidle3.exe
Description
This firmware modifies the behavior of the drive to wait longer before
positioning the heads in their park position and turning off
unnecessary electronics. This utility is designed to upgrade the
firmware of the following hard drives: WD1000FYPS-01ZKB0, WD7500AYPS-
01ZKB0, WD7501AYPS-01ZKB0.
CAUTION: Do not attempt to run this software on any hard drives other
than what is listed above. Please make sure that the computer system is
not turned off during the firmware upgrade. Doing so may damage the
hard drive beyond repair and your data may be lost.
- - - - - - - - - -
Info I got was off a user review from newegg.com on a 3TB WD Green
drive (internal), and it reads;
"Cons: The only problem is that you have to change the idle timer using
the wdidle3.exe program. Otherwise the heads will park every 8 seconds
if there's no use. It unnecessarily increases the Load Cycle Count.
Google wdidle3 and you'll figure it out.
Something that I noticed when changing the timer, if you completely
disable it, bad things happen. At least for me, my drive started acting
like the timer was set to .1 seconds or something. The Load Cycle Count
was shooting up every few seconds. So I went back in and set it to 300
seconds (the max). That solved the problem."
I just today got such a drive and need to do this myself soon.
Hope this is what you're looking for, and that it helps you.
Jim L.
Tom Del Rosso
Jul 13, 2012, 4:28:27 AM7/13/12
to
a1pcfixer wrote:
> First head over here......
> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
>
> ...and get....
> wdidle3_1_05.zip
The question is about USB drives.
I have that utility already, but how is that going to work on a USB drive,
when it runs under DOS from a boot floppy.
WD puts green drives in most or all of their USB line.
Arno
Jul 13, 2012, 4:57:55 AM7/13/12
to
Tom Del Rosso <td...@verizon.net.invalid> wrote:
> a1pcfixer wrote:
>> First head over here......
>> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
>>
>> ...and get....
>> wdidle3_1_05.zip
> [snip]
> The question is about USB drives.
> I have that utility already, but how is that going to work on a USB drive,
> when it runs under DOS from a boot floppy.
> WD puts green drives in most or all of their USB line.
You can try http://idle3-tools.sourceforge.net/
>> First head over here......
>> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
>>
>> ...and get....
>> wdidle3_1_05.zip
> [snip]
> The question is about USB drives.
> I have that utility already, but how is that going to work on a USB drive,
> when it runs under DOS from a boot floppy.
> WD puts green drives in most or all of their USB line.
It is a Linux re-implementation of wdidle3 and may be
able to fix the drive over USB.
Other than that, opening the enclosure and connecting the
drive directly may be necessary.
Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: ar...@wagner.name
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans
Mike Tomlinson
Jul 25, 2012, 3:41:54 AM7/25/12
to
En el art�culo <jtomjr$bu5$1...@dont-email.me>, Tom Del Rosso
<td...@verizon.net.invalid> escribi�:
>I have that utility already, but how is that going to work on a USB drive,
>when it runs under DOS from a boot floppy.
There are USB drivers available for DOS, but you would be unwise to try
and use them for this task. You'd be better off taking the drive out of
the external enclosure and temporarily attaching it directly to a PC
motherboard.
--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
<td...@verizon.net.invalid> escribi�:
>I have that utility already, but how is that going to work on a USB drive,
>when it runs under DOS from a boot floppy.
and use them for this task. You'd be better off taking the drive out of
the external enclosure and temporarily attaching it directly to a PC
motherboard.
--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
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